Nissan Could Upgrade Current GT-R Yet Again

Heisenberg himself would have been impressed by the unpredictability of the next-generation Nissan GT-R.

We're pretty sure one is coming, we think it will be sometime around 2018, it could have a hybrid powertrain with an evolution of the 3.0-liter, twin-turbo V6 used in the GT-R LM Nismo endurance racer, and there's a chance its looks will point in the direction of the Nissan Concept 2010 Vision Gran Turismo concept. Oh, and rumor is that no matter what comes next, Nissan-Renault CEO Carlos Ghosn wants to sell more of them every month; GT-R sales are up about 40 units through August compared to last year, but that's still just 891 examples.

What's Nissan going to do with the current GT-R for the next three years? According to a chat Top Gear had with Phillipe Klein, the company's head of product planning, Nissan can do more with the R35. Klein said, "We are very serious about this vehicle and its future," and, "There is still development potential there, always."

That could mean any number of things, since we never have any idea what Nissan is going to do or not do with the GT-R. If Klein is talking about engineering more performance from this package and it's 3.8-liter, twin-turbo V6, does that mean a notable increase in horsepower for the standard version, or does that mean a super-duper edition hotter and faster around the 'Ring than the 600-hp, $149,990 GT-R Nismo? Or is it something else – because, frankly, the GT-R has plenty of performance right now and it's not the coupe's stat-sheet numbers that are holding it back. Since 2018 isn't that far away, we should probably know soon.